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Keystone Science School Girls In STEM Aims To Close The Gender Gap In The Technology Field

October 30, 2017 – Keystone Science School hosts a Girls in STEM: Tech Retreat on November 10-12.

In today’s film and media industries there is a large gender gap, especially in the technology realm. This gender gap is evident not only in the workforce, but in the pursuit of post-secondary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) degree programs.

When does the gender gap in the interest of STEM fields occur? As reported by Catherine Hill, Ph.D of AAUW.org, girls start losing interest in STEM careers in early adolescence due to many contributing societal factors. These factors include loss of confidence due to the stereotype threat that girls are not good at math and science and the significant implicit bias on the basis of gender in STEM fields.

Keystone Science School works to combat these factors and engage young females through its program, Girls in STEM. Each day or weekend Girls in STEM program has a unique theme and engages female professionals to volunteer and serve as mentors for the participating girls. Volunteers serve an important role for the program because the girls can see firsthand the impact the female professionals have had in their careers. Research has shown that girls often don’t engage in STEM careers because they don’t have the proper role models or see people who “look like them” in their desired field of study.

Keystone Science School is excited to announce the 2nd Annual Girls in STEM: Tech Retreat in partnership with Laika Entertainment, an Oscar nominated stop-motion animation production studio, creating movies such as Boxtrolls and Kubo & the Two Strings. Alongside Deborah Cook, Laika Entertainment costume designer, the participating girls will create their own stop-motion animation short films utilizing a variety of applied technology skills.

Last year’s Girls in STEM: Tech Retreat focused on coding and website development. The girls left feeling empowered with the tools to take their interests to the next level. Not only did the participants learn new skills, they also worked together as a team. Participants said: “I enjoyed coding my own website to put an awareness out in the world. I also loved coding with my friends! It was super fun.” Another participant reflected: “I loved how it was not rigidly supervised, but we were encouraged to solve our problems by ourselves.” Following last year’s program, a clear majority of participants stated that they were now inspired to pursue more studies and potential careers in technology.

Throughout this year’s program girls will learn about the design thinking process, film making, and strategies to overcome the present gender barriers found in STEM careers. The participating girls will show the first draft of their short film at a community showing of Kubo and the Two Strings in collaboration with the Breckenridge Film Festival at the Frisco Adventure Center at 7:00pm on November 11, 2017. Through generous support from Xcel Energy, Verizon, the Storm Foundation and many individual funders the full weekend program costs only $150 per participant, with scholarships available for those in need. To register for this program or to volunteer, please go to https://www.keystonescienceschool.org/community/girls-in-stem.